That's Just What Friends Do
by bryceb68
Summary: "And this thing that you're all doing, you, Barney and Robin, where the three of you hang out at the bar night in, night out, like you're all just buddies? That doesn't work." Victoria was right. Barney, Robin and Ted all stepped willingly into this sick game they are playing. Nobody can win it, but one thing is clear. The line that separates friendship and love is blurred. REVIEW
1. That's Just What Friends Do

_**AN: Hey everybody. Trying this new series. Not sure if I should keep going. I know I never finish anything ever, but trust me, I actually am working on all my other stories believe it or not. Most of them I'm just trying to fix and make presentable because the more I look back on my earlier stuff, the more disappointed I am. HIMYM is my favorite show ever. I've watched every episode six times. To be honest, it's the only show I really watch. Anyways, I'm doing this series as a way to get out of writer's block. It's pretty easy for me to do, so I thought if I kept doing it whenever I had trouble writing, it would make writing my other stories easier.**_

_**Anyways, I hope you enjoy. It's obviously really short. One for every episode. I have other ideas for stories as well. Bascially a similar concept as this story but Barney/Ted smut instead. Let me know what you think.**_

**_Season 1, Episode 1_**

**_Pilot_**

Long after everyone has left the bar, Ted and Barney remain. Rangit is in the bathroom, relieving himself of the excess alcohol. They sit across from each other. Neither one talking. Neither one really drinking anymore. Both just sat. Thinking.

"You should have kissed her." Barney says to him. He looks up from his scotch and stares back at Barney. Barney waits for him to give some long speech about why he didn't.

"I didn't though." Ted says, and looks back down.

And for some reason, this answer holds more weight than any other reply that was given. Ted doesn't look defensive anymore. He's reached the state of drunkenness right before he becomes uncontrollable. This is the state where Ted becomes quiet and emotionless. He is a rock of pure silence and thought.

"Why?" Is all Barney asks. Ted looks back up. There are tears in his eyes. Barney leans forward, and waits for him to speak. He opens his mouth and Barney thinks he knows what he's about to say.

Barney can feel the tension between them. He can feel the emotion behind Ted's eyes that are powering him to speak. But then something inside him snaps, he's pushed over the edge of drunkenness.

"We should go back to Robin's!" He says. His eyes brighten, tears disappear, and all tension between them is now buried underneath Ted's renewed lust for Robin. Lust that will never be for Barney.

But Barney just smiles, waits for Rangit to come back and take them to Robin's.

Because that's just what best friends do.


	2. Real Friends Play the Game

**_Season 1 Episode 2_**

**_The Purple Giraffe_**

Robin finally leaves the bar and that leaves the four of them together again. Barney is relieved. He likes seeing Ted happy. He loves that smile and the glitter in his eyes, but seeing him only act that way around her makes Barney happy when she leaves. Barney likes her though. She's awesome. She's hot. She's almost exactly Barney's type. But she is also making Ted fall in love with her.

"I kissed her!" Ted says after she walks out the door. Marshall and Lily let out a gasp of excitement and Barney looks up at him, sees the excitement in his face and finishes the rest of his drink. Ted, Marshall, and Lily look at him and he realizes there is no way to hide his disappointment.

So instead, he just looks at Ted. "You should have had sex with the Bimbo." He gets up and walks up to the bar to get another drink. He hears Lily and Marshall laugh Barney off and start asking Ted questions. Ted laughs Barney off too and begins telling the story of how they agreed to just be friends. Barney tunes him out though, because nobody should tell the story of being rejected quite that excited.

Barney gets another drink, finishes it at the bar and orders another. He repeats the process three times before even looking back at the booth. Marshall and Lily are already talking about Ted and Robin's wedding.

Ted watches and listens to them in amusement. He looks up at Barney and his goofy grin fades. His excited look is gone and replaced by worry. Barney hates that look.

Barney realizes that he's doing what Ted is doing. He's not playing the game. He's trying to skip to the end and make Ted fall in love with him. That's not how the game works.

So instead, he walks back to the booth, sits down, and plays the game.

Because that's just what friends do.


	3. Real Friends Don't Have to Say Anything

**_Season 1, Episode 3_**

**_The Sweet Taste of Liberty_**

Ted gets up and goes to the restroom, so for the first time, Barney and Robin are left alone, sitting across the booth from each other. Barney watches her coolly with a smirk on his face. He reminds himself, _It's all part of the game._

He pretends he's in a game that deals out punishments at random. _Oh, you rolled a one? That means a girl comes and threatens to steal your best friend away! _He imagines Marshall saying about some new game that he made up.

Robin looks at him nervously. She looks scared almost. Barney can see why. Barney's front isn't the most welcoming or easy thing to be friends with. Barney wants to be her friend though. He wants to for Ted. Because it's all part of the game.

She takes a deep breath, leans in and says softly, "So how long have you been in love with Ted?" Barney's eyes widen and he is filled with shock. A millions question fly through his mind and he suddenly feels like he's about to drown. This game just got so much realer.

"What-what do you mean?" He asks, chuckling too nervously, and his eyes darting from his drink, to the door, back to his drink, and finally settling on Robin again. He shifts in seat to appear more natural, but he ends up looking just plain awkward.

"I can see the way you look at him Barney. I don't know why the rest of them haven't seen it but you act the same way around him that he acts around me. Did you really think nobody would ever notice?" She asks. She sounds so real. So skeptical. But Barney can't be mad at her. Because she's awesome. She's so great. And already Barney's best friend. Which made hating her impossible.

"I-I don't know what your talking about, _Robin, _but you're just…. Stupid! Okay? So, ya!" He says, his voice filled with such sarcasm and fakeness Robin had to laugh.

"Barney. You don't have to lie to me." She says. And that's all she says.

"I'm not lying to you, _Robin._ I don't love _Ted_. That's just… gross!" He says, covering his shock with a heavy layer of disgust.

She almost believe him. She feels bad for bringing it up because imagining Barney, playboy extraordinaire, being in love with Ted made her brain hurt. She's about to apologize when Ted walks out of the restroom and sits back down next to him.

She then watches as Barney's face is filled with relief when he sits down. And she doesn't know what to think anymore. She doesn't know what's really going on.

But she won't say anything about it again to either of them.

Because that's just what friends do.


	4. Real Friends are Always There

**_Season 1, Episode 4_**

**_Return of the Shirt_**

"Well, I better go. There's a girl waiting for me at my apartment. She says she has a saddle and wants to ride me like Seabiscuit!" Barney says, as he gets out of the booth. Robin lets out yet another groan and buries her head into her hands. She prays that it is the last horse joke of the night. Ted and Barney both laugh hysterically before Barney leaves. Ted watches him walk out and smiles. Barney is something else. Something different that anything he has ever known.

He looks back at Robin and she is looking at him coyly, waiting for him to say something. He doesn't know what to say. They haven't talked to each other really at all that entire night. Offhanded comments made to each other, but they hadn't really talked.

"You fell in horse crap." He says. She doesn't groan or get mad. She just smiles.

"You got beat up by a girl." She says. He doesn't groan or get mad. He just smiles.

"So tell me about it. I haven't heard the story yet." She says. She'd heard jokes about the fight, but nobody had told her what happened. She was able to piece together parts of it, but didn't know it by heart. And Ted was so good at stories.

As he starts the story, Robin watches the way he so animatedly talks about. She loves watching his eyebrows bob up and down and his mouth tilt and quirk as he talks. He smirks briefly and it reminds her of Barney.

She then remembers how Barney might be in love with Ted, and all she can see is Barney sitting next to him, staring at Ted with those icy blue eyes and that annoying smirk. Then Barney looks at Robin and his expression doesn't change. He still has that look on his face. That beautiful look.

Robin is seeing double. Ted smirks. Barney smirks. Ted's eyes beam at her, warming her soul like a thousand burning suns. Barney's eyes peer into her mind, searching her brain. Ted's mouth moves wildly, telling the story in his best way. Barney's mouth is still, waiting for her to make a move.

Then she blinks and it is just Ted. Wonderful, funny, caring Ted. She laughs and says, "You're such a girl, Mosby." Ted launches into yet another argument against that and she just laughs and goes along with it.

She loves spending time with Ted. He's awesome. But every time she's with him, she always sees Barney, staring at both of them and watching their every move. It's comforting. It's frightening. She just ignores him, pretends he's not there, and focuses on Ted.

Because that's just what friends do.


	5. Real Friends Distract You

**_AN: Hey everybody! Thanks for reading so far. I really appreciate it. I would really love it if everyone could leave a review and tell me what they think. It really motivates me to write more. This story has obviously evolved beyond what I originally meant for it to be, but I think the way I have it now is a lot better in my opinion. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys this! This one was really hard for me to come up with an idea for some reason..._**

**_Episode: Season 1, Episode 5_**

**_Okay Awesome_**

_I'm right here, _Barney thinks. He listens to Marshall and Ted talk in the back seat. He pretends he can't hear. He pretends he can't hear Ted talk about how he hates hanging out with Barney. He pretends he can't hear Ted talk about The One.

They laugh, they talk, and they just sit back there being best friends. They have known each other for so long. They don't even have to try to talk. They can just do it. No matter how close Ted and Barney, they will never be able to talk as easily as Marshall and Ted do. He's always second best to Marshall. Barney, in that moment, wants to give up.

But then Ted says, "I have to go out and do all the stupid single stuff with Barney." And Barney feels himself wilt. Just for a second though, because when he looks back and sees Ted's sincerity, he feels a burning passion again. Something angry and deep within him that has been under the surface for a long time.

Barney feels a pulling in his stomach. A tingling sensation that he always gets when he's on the verge of opening up a door whole new world of answers and opportunities. He wants to turn around and scream, "I'M RIGHT HERE! I'VE BEEN HERE ALL ALONG! JUST LOVE ME!"

Just when Barney thinks that he will turn around and scream as loud as he possibly can at Ted, he feels his phone buzz in his hand. He looks down and sees a text from Robin: _did you have fun at the club? _

And then Barney wanes. He feels himself calm and a smile creeps on to his face out of nowhere. He imagines Robin, sitting at her apartment, drinking a glass of wine, surrounded by her dogs.

_It's a long story… did you have fun? I barely even saw you! _He sends, his fingers flying with excitement. He doesn't even realize he's stopped listening to Ted and Marshall. Within a few minutes he feels another buzz in his hand.

_Funny story actually… _She says, and Barney smiles.

He loses himself in the story, and when hers is over, he tells his and they both laugh and talk. He forgets completely about Ted and Marshall. When they reach the bar, Barney goes straight home. He doesn't want to go prowl for women. Robin has completely distracted him for the night.

Because that's just what friends do.


	6. Real Friends Tell Secrets They Shouldn't

_**Season 1 Episode 6**_

_**The Slutty Pumpkin**_

Robin and Ted sit on the roof, staring at the stars, not talking, but both thinking hard.

Mike just broke up with Robin because she couldn't share with him. Yet she comes upstairs, sits down next to Ted and shares her blanket. You don't have to look very far to find a solution to that conundrum.

But Robin isn't thinking about that. She's thinking about how she hasn't seen Barney all day. She hadn't talked to him all day. But when she had asked Ted where he was, he said that he had abandoned him to go the Victoria's Secret fashion show. And this bothers her. But she doesn't know why. So she sits and thinks.

Ted sits and thinks about Barney too. Why, when the girl of his dreams sits right next to him, does he think about Barney and his leaving? He tries to force himself to talk to her, to say something funny to spark a conversation. But his mind is filled with thoughts of Barney and the spark he is trying to conjure is being doused by thoughts of the coolness of Barney's demeanor.

So they sit, side-by-side, thinking about the night and how it had somehow come down to them sitting on the roof at almost 3 in the morning.

But downstairs at the bar, Barney sits in their booth by himself. The bar is about to close and he has nowhere to go. He could go home, but the boring and drab nature of the apartment would only depress him. He could go to the roof and sit with Robin and Ted, but that would just make him do something stupid. He could go hang out with Marshall and Lily, but that would just be awkward since they were probably already in bed.

He has to pick the less of three evils. So he goes and hangs out with Marshall and Lily.

He walks into their bedroom and they're in between the sheets. They see him come in and their eyes widen, their bodies' spasm and they collapse away from each other, grasping for sheets as they try to cover themselves. Barney doesn't care though. He just chuckles and tries to catch a glimpse of the action.

"What are you doing Barney?!" Marshall screams, hugging Lily to him, defending her from Barney as if he's a threat.

Then Barney asks himself, _what am I doing here?_, and the words just come out of him when he speaks.

"I need to talk to Lily. Right now." Barney says and he knows what he's going to say to her. Barney knows he shouldn't tell her. He knows he should bottle it up until it goes away.

But when they finally finish arguing after twenty minutes and Lily finally gets dressed and comes out into the living room, he tells her everything he shouldn't tell her.

Because that's just what friends do.


	7. Real Friends Keep Secrets They Shouldn't

_**Season 1, Episode 7**_

_**Matchmaker**_

Lily can't keep a secret. Everyone knows that. So when Barney told her that he was not only in love with Ted, but he also felt something with Robin, she felt her heart sink in her chest. She knew that this secret was something that could rip apart her group of friends. But still. She could **not **keep a secret.

So when they all sit at the booth together a few nights later, she feels the tension between everyone. It's underlying, not interfering with their conversation or their enjoyment, but its there. Like an ominous shark circling them but he just ate so they were probably good. Hopefully anyways.

"Wow Ted! A cockroach and a mouse found love together before you did!" Marshall says. They all laugh, but Lily can finally see the subtleness of al three of their reactions. Barney finishes off his drink. Robin looks at Ted, turning her head just a little too much as if she's trying to avoid Barney. Ted finishes laughing, and then looks at Robin and Barney. His smile fades.

Lily can see it now. They are killing each other. They all can't stand being around each other, but they have to, because they all love each other. In all of their own twisted ways, they are in love with each other. But when she sees this, she feels the secret rise in her throat, threatening to come out.

So when Marshall offers to get the next round and he goes up to bar, Lily follows him quickly, desperate to get away from them.

When she gets up to the bar and Marshall orders the drinks, she looks back at them. And she finally realizes it.

They may be killing each other. They may be ripping each other apart as they play this sick game of "love me, love me not". They may be getting drunk and crying and going through emotional turmoil every single night. But they way the look at each other and the way they all need each other is worth it to Lily.

"What's wrong Lilypad?" Marshall asks her. And she opens her mouth to speak. The secret almost bubbles out of her without even knowing it, but she stops herself. She looks up into his loving eyes. And she smiles.

"Nothin, Marshamallow." She says. She kisses him and then they go sit back down at the booth with the rest of them. And she forgets all about the secret. She forgets all about this sick game that is being played.

So for the first time in forever, she doesn't tell this life-altering secret.

Because that's just what friends do


	8. Real Friends Just Laugh and Smile

_**Season 1, Episode 8**_

_**The Duel**_

"It takes more than five minutes to get to know someone!" Robin exclaims yet again. Barney shakes his head, rubs his eyes and finally looks back at her again.

"No it doesn't, Robin!" He says (also yet again). They've been going at it for hours. Lily, Marshall and Ted were all upstairs. They had been pretty tired after their big fight.

"How do you know Barney? When was the last time you ever even went on a second date with someone?" Robin asks. He ponders this for a moment.

"Do booty calls a couple weeks later count?" he asks, and she let's out an exasperated sigh. Neither one of them knew why they were arguing their points so hard, but for some reason they both held onto their piece of logic as hard as they could.

"Exactly my point, Barney. You don't let anyone close enough to you to go on a second date anyways. I bet if you just once let your guard down and opened up to someone you would have a lot of new opportunities." She says. She hadn't realized when she started it, but by the end of the speech, she realizes that she is implying that person is herself. He realizes it to.

He wants to let his guards down. He wants to open up to Robin in that moment and let her know how he is feeling. But he looks into her eyes and sees the fear that's there. She doesn't want him to. So he doesn't. Instead, he answers her in the best way he can.

"Why would I do that when I can just keep being awesome!? My life rocks!" He says. He reaches for a high five. She doesn't give it to him.

"Weren't you listening at all to what Lily said at dinner about change? Some things are going to change Barney!" She says, adamantly pursuing this.

"Well, she also said that the important things wouldn't change!" Barney says matter-of-factly.

"So you're saying that chasing bimbos and having one-night stands is important to you?"

"No Robin. I'm saying that's who I am! I am chasing bimbos and having one-night stands! Without those things, I would just be a well-dressed, handsome guy. Not the awesome being you see before you." He says, straightening his tie and checking a girl out at the bar.

"It's not who you are Barney. You can put on that charade for everyone else and pretend like this is who you are, but I see right through it. It's probably because I'm just as messed up as you." She says, feeling useless against his resistance.

They both look at each other and think the same thing as each other.

_What are we doing to each other?_

But neither of them says anything. They just keep arguing, returning to the lighthearted nature of their conversation. They fill it with jokes and laughs, hoping that they won't have to ask the one question that needs to be asked.

They just smile and laugh and talk.

Because that's what friends do.


	9. Real Friends Just Go To Sleep

_**Season 1, Episode 9**_

_**Belly Full of Turkey**_

They had all left him sitting there at the strip club by himself. Robin had left first. She was tired, and of course she could only take so much of it. She liked strip clubs. They were fun and a good time, but she didn't get the same enjoyment out of it. She left, leaving Ted and Barney alone.

Ted left next. With Robin gone, it forced Barney and Ted to really talk, and for some reason, Ted just couldn't do that tonight. After seeing him help all those people at the shelter, he viewed Barney differently. He saw him as a guy who just might be a good person. Ted couldn't allow himself to think that. It led to bad thoughts of things that weren't meant to be thought of out in the open.

So he was alone at a strip club on Thanksgiving, trying to come up with things that he was thankful for. But with his friends all abandoning him and his life seeming to crumble around him, he was having trouble.

He'd thought he'd loved Ted, but ever since the night that Ted had met Robin, he has felt as if Ted has been drifting away. Not necessarily because he is drifting towards Robin, but because that night he had almost let himself feel something. And isn't wrong to feel something if the person your feeling things for is someone of the same gender?

But Barney isn't sure if he loves Ted anymore, because Robin is Robin. She is all curves and perfect skin and dark eyes that makes Barney feel so comfortable and at home. She is the gender he has always known how to talk to and lie to. But he doesn't want to lie to Robin because he's been lying his whole and this is his one shot to change his ways.

So Barney just sits there, trying to be thankful for the friends who are eating him up, taking all of the love and emotion out of his body and use it to feast on it. He feels empty and cold, but knows tomorrow as soon as he sees them, he'll be filled with same rush of warmth and meaning. Then he realizes that he's doing the same thing to them. He's giving them everything he has and letting them take it whenever they want, but he's taking from them too and he's doing it just as much and just as unintentionally, because how do you stop giving to someone when you can't close yourself off?

So he goes home, just like every night, and sits and drinks and thinks about how he thought how easily it would be to play this game with them. But now that he's playing he realizes there is no way out. He is trapped in this sick game of give and take that they all so desperately need.

But they all do this. Every night, the same as this night, they go home and drink and think about how they are all trading their love back and forth like it's a needle filled with heroin, going into their veins and weaving through their bodies, causing mayhem and destruction to every fiber of them. But they need it. They are addicted to each other.

So when they finally leave each other each night and go home and drink, the withdrawls sneak in and hold them firmly, begging for them to call each other and confess this love that none of them even understand the meaning of anymore.

But they ignore it every night, and go to sleep.

Because that's just what friends do.


	10. Real Friends Forget About Each Other

**_Season 1, Episode 10_**

**_The Pineapple Incident_**

**_AN: Sorry this one took so long. I had a lot of stuff going on and I had trouble with this chapter. Anyways, please remember to leave a review and tell me what you think because it motivates me to write a lot more when you do. Please enjoy!_**

This game that they play is getting more twisted and sicker each day. Barney tries to get Ted drunk again, so he can see that emotional side of him that almost cracked, but instead he just dives immediately into obsessing over Robin.

He may have not hooked up with Robin that night, but a bullet wasn't dodged that night. It still grazed Barney, diving into flesh and crack bone because Ted still slept with someone. If Ted had slept with Robin though, it would have been like a bullet straight through the heart.

But Barney didn't know which would have hurt him more. Would it have been the fact that Ted chose to be with Robin over him after all this time, or the fact that Robin chose Ted over him? Barney didn't have a clue, and this worried him because he didn't know what to do anymore. This game had become so much more complicated than he had thought.

But he always has that one trick up his sleeve that he uses whenever the pain of the situation is too much. When Ted and Robin leave and he can't get his mind of either of them, he can always call upon the one-night-stand to take his mind off the situation.

So tonight, after all his friends have left and he only has the girl at the bar to talk to, he plans his move carefully, because if he doesn't get her home, he'll wind up spending his night at home alone, fighting off the urge to call one of them up. And he knows he won't be able to decide which one of them to call so he'll just go to sleep with a cloudy mind and foggy eyes.

So sneaks up to the girl at the bar, slithers up close to her, and hisses out a pickup line that sits on the girls skin like venom. But she can't look away from his piercing eyes, because they carry so much pain.

"My name's Barney." He says, extending his hand gracefully, watching her shy away from him. He waits for her response. He waits for her to extend her hand or offer her name because if she does this he knows that she will be willing to play the game. She has to accept the invitation. She just has to.

For a moment, he thinks it's all over. He begins to wonder what Ted is doing. He's probably upstairs asleep, thinking about Robin, or drinking his sorrows away. He always does one of those three things. He shakes off the thought of Ted, but when he looks at the way the girl's hair falls behind her shoulders and her lips press together in concentration, he sees images of Robin. As if she's there in the bar, standing behind him watching him, and he shudders and fights off the need to look over his shoulder.

"My name's Ally." She says, and she extends her hand, and with that, he forgets about them. He forgets all about the way Ted ignored him and thirsted over everyone he couldn't have, while Barney waited there, ready for Ted to take him.

When they get into a cab and ride to Barney's house, all the while groping thighs and pressing lips, he forgets about Robin's new boyfriend. How she abandoned him last night and tonight for the billionaire. He forgets about the way she looked back at him right before she left and he felt like his heart was going to cave in.

When they get into bed, and lose themselves in each other, Barney forgets everything, because he needs to do this. He needs to forget about how much they have hurt him. He loses himself in sweaty skin and hot breath.

Because that's just what friends do.


	11. Real Friends Just Walk Away

_**AN: I don't know about this chapter guys. I feel pretty bland about it. I wrote about ten of these ones, from different perspectives, but this felt like the best one. Tell me what you think, because I really want to know. The next one will hopefully be really good!**_

_**Season 1, Episode 11**_

_**The Limo**_

Robin walks back to the limo, the sound of her shoes on the pavement mixes with the sound of Ted's and it sounds like the uneven beat of one of her earlier songs she produced as Robin Sparkles. Back then, she had been just learning how to make a beat. Now, it is similar, because she feels new in this game that she is in.

The kiss they had shared hadn't been the magic she wanted it to be. She had searched his mouth for the passion that she had felt before when they kissed, but all she felt was a white hot need searing her body. Neither of them were in it for the passion or the emotion, or even each other. They were in it because they needed to feel each other close again. They had been killing each other, and they needed this to save each other. But there is always the presence of Barney, waiting coolly in the back of their minds, reminding them that they can't be fully committed to each other. But sometimes, when someone tells you that you can't do something, you just try harder and harder to force it.

So when Robin gets back into the limo and sits next to Derek, she can't stop herself from looking at Barney and frowning. Because between long and gross kisses with the slutty girl next to him and inappropriate whispers into the girl's ear, he sneaks glances at her and it makes her want to just lunge at him. She wants to punch that girl square in the jaw. But Robin doesn't want to do it because she wants Barney. She wants to do it just so the other girl can't have him.

Derek moves his hand to her thigh and she feels a sinking feeling in her heart. She had almost forgotten he was there. She looks at him and forces herself to smile. He moves in for the kiss, and she doesn't stop him. She can't stop him.

When their lips meet she feels the immediate rush of heat. Then nothing. Nothing but the uneasy feeling of being watched. But not just watched by the people in the car, but watched by the ever-present people in the back of her mind who constantly remind her she'll never be alone again. She pulls away from the kiss too quickly and she feels bad, but she can't force herself to kiss him. It just makes her too empty.

"Where did Ted go?" She hears. She looks over at Lily first, but then realizes the question came from Barney, who stares at her with only a look that she could possible understand. Everyone else sees the cool, indifferent Barney, but she can see the needy, almost grief-ridden, look in his eye.

"He needed some fresh air, I think." She says, and they both understand what this means. They both snuggle up to their partner for the night, but they know what this means. Ted did what none of them could do. He walked away. Even if just for the night, he walked away.

Because that's just what friends do.


End file.
